Senate passes wetlands bills

OLYMPIA (AP) -- Advocates of local land-use planning took a pounding in the Senate as lawmakers passed four bills rolling back the power of local governments to regulate wetlands use.

Under one bill passed Monday, landowners whose development plans are blocked by new government regulations would have to be compensated for the lost value of their land.

It was joined by a trio of bills that would impose statewide wetlands regulations, define wetlands, and order mapping of the wetlands and notification of their owners.

All were lopsidedly approved despite opponents' objections that the bills usurp local-government powers and would decimate efforts to protect the environment. All four measures now go to a hostile House, where leaders say they will have trouble passing.

The property-use bill, SB6201 by Sen. Neil Amondson, R-Centralia, would require the state or local government to compensate a landowner when rules or regulations are imposed that reduce the value of the owner's property by 50 percent or more.

Federal regulations are exempt from the bill, which is retroactive. If the measure becomes law, property owners could make claims against regulations dating back 10 years.

The measure was inspired by anger among property owners who claim wetland and other regulations mandated under the state's 1990 Growth Management Act are robbing them of the right to sell and develop their land.

The state Supreme Court has ruled that no "taking" of property rights occurs if rules that lower property values are enacted to protect the "health, safety, environment or fiscal integrity" of an area. But the U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing a South Carolina case that could negate that decision.

Sen. Dan McDonald, R-Bellevue, summed up the position of the bill's proponents by saying, "I think that if you're going to take (land), you ought to pay for it."

Critics said the bill would threaten government's ability to do any land-use planning and provoke additional lawsuits because any public use of land could be a cause for action.

"This opens the door basically to any decision made by government that might be necessary for all of us," said Sen. Phil Talmadge, DSeattle. "This really is a heyday for lawyers."

Sen. Al Bauer, D-Vancouver, countered that property owners would flood the courts if the bill didn't get passed.

The measure was approved 3811.

Environmentalists deplored the vote. Jeff Parsons of the National Audubon Society said later that the measure would bankrupt state and local governments.

"It's essentially dismantling the ability of the government to govern," he said. The bill would have a "chilling effect" on all land-use planning because governments would be leery of any move that lowered property values, he said.

The three other bills met slightly more opposition on the floor. The broadest, SB6096, would require local governments to adopt classification systems for wetlands, set the sizes of buffer zones around the wetlands, and exempt several activities from any regulation.

Sponsoring Sen. Cliff Bailey, RSnohomish, said the measure was required "to put some order" into wetland regulations throughout the state. Bailey and other backers of the bill have criticized the current hodgepodge of federal, state and local regulations as confusing. People often don't know they have a wetland until after they've paid for their property, Bailey said.

"I think there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to know what the wetlands designation is," Bailey said.

But opponents argued the bill would undercut the Growth Management Act. The state land-use planning law grants local governments the power to regulate wetlands as they see fit, and many have ordinances in place to meet the act's March 1 deadline. The Bailey bill would supercede the local ordinances and give regulatory power to the state and federal governments.

Sen. Jack Metcalf, R-Langley, one of two Republicans to vote against the measure, called it "one the most severe we have ever considered taking away local control."

The measure passed 33-16.

Also passed were SB6255, requiring local governments to map wetlands and notify their owners, and SB6254, requiring local governments to follow a federal definition of wetlands that is more lax than the definition recommended by the state.

Sponsoring Sen. Ann Anderson, R-Acme, said the mapping bill was needed because property owners often don't know that they own wetlands until they try to build and come up against a wall of regulation.

Anderson said that under her bill, "up front, people will know from now on that they have wetlands that could be regulated."

The measure passed 36-13.

Sen. Patrick McMullen, D-Sedro Wooley, said the definition measure would undo the work local governments have already done under the Growth Management Act using their own wetlands definitions.

"Lots of jurisdictions have concluded regulations; they're done," McMullen said. "Now we're going to ask them to rip that scab off and start over again."

The Senate still passed the bill 35-14.

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